


Soulmate AU: Injuries

by HoshiYoshi



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 23:50:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20956973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoshiYoshi/pseuds/HoshiYoshi
Summary: Soulmates are born with flowers in the places their soulmate is going to be injured in some way that's significant to them.Beverly has a flower on her abdomen. Mike has flowers around his face and on the inside of his wrists. Richie, on the other hand, has a giant flower on his chest.Idea credit to mintmagic and unlockedlips on ao3, and trashgayzebos on tumblr





	Soulmate AU: Injuries

Soulmates are born with tattoos of flowers in the place of injuries their soulmate will get at some point in their lives. Some are insignificant, like Eddie's, who has small flowers spread across his knees and elbows, the only interesting ones being the tiny flower between his eyes and the medium sized one on his arm. Others are bigger and easy to identify, like the large one Stan has on his back that he realizes matches the bruise Mike gets after their fight with Pennywise, and Mike's own flowers that make a ring around his face that match the bitemarks around Stan's face.

They don't mention the flowers on Mike's wrists.

Richie's flowers are a little more significant. He has a band of flowers circling his right arm, a flower on his left cheek, and a giant flower blooming on both his chest and his back. The losers often tease him, wondering if his soulmate will even be alive by the time he meets them, and Richie will never admit that the jokes leave a bad taste in his mouth. Richie is jealous that so many of the losers end up being soulmates. Sometimes he looks at the band of flowers that circle his arm in hope, the same side as the one Eddie broke, then smothers the feeling. His mind always flashes to the thought of what the flower on his chest could mean, and he worries. Richie's not religious, but he finds himself speaking a prayer every night, begging any entity out there that his soulmate is okay, because who could survive an injury _that _big.

One day, Bowers gets him. Slices his arm and breaks his glasses, leaving Richie with a gash on his arm and a cut on the bridge of his nose. He immediately goes to Eddie, because who else would he go to? He sits calmly on the bathroom countertop as Eddie frets over his injuries, and Richie can't help but notice the way Eddie's eyes linger on the cuts, a curious look in his eyes.

"What is it? You look like you're about to kiss me." Richie cuts in with a joke, never one to let the losers get too lost in thought. He hates when Eddie thinks too much, he'd rather hear his thoughts than watch them swim behind his eyes. Eddie scoffs, rolling his eyes as he presses the alcohol wipe too hard into the cut on Richie's arm. Richie hisses, and Eddie says a small "sorry" while grinning mischeviously. Richie doesn't say anything, and he hopes Eddie isn't close enough to hear the way his heart pounds.

After It, Richie notices the way Eddie's eyes linger on him, mainly on the scar on his arm, and Richie doesn't say anything, even as his own eyes linger on the flower Eddie has in the same spot. Richie loves Eddie, but he never entertains the thought that Eddie could be his soulmate because every time his eyes land on the flower on his chest (and really, how could he miss it, it's so fucking _big_) his chest tightens with a fear so deep that that clown wishes he could be the cause of it. And so Richie stays quiet, and so does everyone else.

They grow up, they leave Derry, and they all forget. Richie still traces the flowers on his body in worry, but slowly comes to terms with the fact his soulmate is probably long dead. Eddie forgets why his flowers are there, and just decides that his soulmate must be clumsy.

Mike calls them, and Richie goes back despite the sick feeling in his stomach. They all arrive, except Stan, and Mike accepts this with a sad smile. Everyone hits it off like they'd never been away, and Richie relishes in the fact that he and Eddie have their same back and forth, just like the old days. Then Richie tries to run, and when he comes back, Eddie's sporting a wound on his left cheek that gets Richie thinking way too much.

When they go to face It, it's so much worse than it was before, and Richie thinks that's bullshit. He almost dies, but can't bring himself to be upset when he sees Eddie's face, full of fear and sporting a kicked puppy vibe.

Richie gets caught in the deadlights, and really, it wasn't so bad. It was the feeling of being real yet completely detached from reality at the same time, and it was a hell of a lot better than fighting some stupid clown. Then that feeling is ripped away from him, and he collides with the hard ground of the cavern. Eddie's face appears over him, covered in dirt and who knows what, but he's smiling, he's happily telling Richie something that he doesn't understand in his daze, then something splashes on Richie.

He blinks, and realizes it's blood.

He looks at Eddie with wide eyes, his gaze landing on the claw sticking through Eddie's chest and suddenly he feels _so sick_. Richie wishes he was blind and deaf, because seeing Eddie be lifted into the air and hearing the way Eddie says his name in that pained voice almost kills Richie on the spot. He follows after Eddie immediately after It tosses him aside like a ragdoll, and he presses his jacket into the wound like that's gonna do something to fix the situation. Eddie gives him a smile when he does it, a _knowing _smile that just makes Richie feel worse. They go to fight It, and Richie stays next to Eddie as long as he can.

"I fucked your mother." Eddie says, a sad smile on his face, and Richie is too choked up to laugh, so he just makes a face. "Since we're doing confessions then, I have one of my own. " He says quietly, and Eddie looks at him, his eyes glassy but his gaze just as knowing as it was all of those times he looked at Richie's scar. It makes Richie feel stupid. "I love you." He whispers, and Eddie grins. Richie thinks it's the most beautiful thing he's seen even with the blood on Eddie's teeth. "I love you too, dumbass. I always have." Eddie says softly, too sincere, and Richie feels tears burning at his eyes. He starts to say something, anything just to keep Eddie _here_, when Eddie jerks his head to the sounds of the losers yelling at It. "You should help them," Eddie says logically, "I can't really, so you've gotta do it for both of us. Roasting a clown? Hell, that's what you were made for, Trashmouth." Eddie's voice in encouraging, and even though he feels like he's gonna cry, Richie gets up and goes to help the losers.

He lets all of his emotions out when he rips It's claw off, and he feels empty when they walk back to Eddie's body. Richie doesn't even feel like himself as he clings to Eddie's body, sobbing into his neck. Mike and Bill have to pry him away, and Richie feels like he's watching himself in third person. It almost feels like he's still trapped in the deadlights, and he prays that that's the case. But the cold water of the quarry snaps him out of it, and he mourns with the rest of the losers, in love and broken but unashamed for once.

He carves over their initials on the bridge, smiling sadly. He pulls his jacket closer to him, breathing in Eddie's scent. As he gets back in the car to head back to the hotel for a final goodbye, he pulls his sleeve up, looking at the band of flowers around his arm with fondness.

Sighing loudly, Richie puts in drive and pulls out, tossing one last at the bridge in his rearview mirror, smiling to himself.


End file.
